Anyway, here’s some perspective. I was born in 1975. When I was in college we heard pretty much the same thing you outline here from every media outlet you could name. There weren’t as many sources back then, so it wasn’t quite as loud and it was easier to ignore. But there is a significant difference, and no one is talking about it. We were told we weren’t moving out of our house, we weren’t being responsible, we weren’t growing up.

But it seems to me that Matt’s generation is having more kids than MINE did. It’s purely anecdotal, but just about everybody I know his age has kids. No not all of them are Christian or even Catholic, and let’s face it, I knew both sets back then, and more besides. It’s not even all the baby showers and and FB blasts, but also just people taking babies to coffee houses, restaurants, airports, parks– just about everywhere public that you can name.

When I was a little kid, everybody had kids. When I was in my teens and twenties, you could walk to a nice park, walking distance from a public school, one that had a really nice swings and what not, spend four hours there in the late afternoon and see NO CHILDREN AT ALL. Not a scary neighborhood, but a safe suburban neighborhood with big trees. A great place to raise kids, but with no kids in it. This was even true on weekends. I’ll pause for a moment for that to sink in.

I haunted many parks in the area. It was the same all over. Kids were an endangered species. Guess what, I still haunt parks (I’ll admit, less often than I used to, but often at the same hours of the day) and I see kids. Lots of kids. It would be freakish if I didn’t think that was a sign somebody somewhere has hope for humanity. That’s good, as bad as things are right now. So there you have it. A generational veteran saying something good about the Aughts. Mark your calendar. It may not happen again. 🙂

So if my silly observations have any bearing, you might be more afraid to get married, but as far as I can tell, far braver in the direction continuing the species. That’s a sign of some spunk. Oh, and that whole “Pro Life” movement. You guys just took it over, because apparently, being randomly slaughtered before birth wasn’t noteworthy enough for many of MY generation to get upset over.

We were too busy inventing irony and VR. </snark>

As for kids, most of my friends either waited until they were 30, or… didn’t have them at all. Our generation was not keen on leaving home, but we eventually managed. I’m not saying it’s a good thing, but at least in the Aught’s case, you have more of an excuse, I suppose. But I won’t give it if you won’t take it. Getting jobs these days is hard, especially with all kinds of idiots advocating a $15 minimum wage, and taxing us for daring to get sick.

So it would be an interesting comparison to see how the two generations stack up, wouldn’t it? How good is my memory, really? Or is it geographical differences?